The result is 12 road-tested best practices and common fails to consider when launching your next influencer marketing campaign.

While top influencers may be beyond the budget of all but large companies, micro influencers with a local presence also deliver a big bang for your marketing buck. This gives small businesses the opportunity to use influencer marketing as part of their overall campaigns too.

The key is to use influencer marketing effectively and not squander the opportunity with the wrong strategy.

“Sadly, despite its potential, many Influencer Marketing campaigns fall flat,” explains Public and Influencer Relations Specialist and Nimble’s Director of Communications Jenna Dobkin, on the Nimble Blog. “Browse any social media channel – most especially Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, or Twitter – and you’re sure to encounter at least one transparent influencer endorsement that a well-intended brand paid an exorbitant amount of money for.”

Tips for Influencer Marketing Campaigns

Specifically on the infogrphic, Heather Dopson, Community Builder for GoDaddy urges marketers to ‘Put people first’. With this practice in place, you can build long-term relationships mutually beneficial for all parties involved. This includes your audience, your brand and the influencer in question.

When looking at influencer marketing “It is not a transactional exchange, but rather friends helping friends to succeed together,” Alton adds.

Experts also insist the more you collaborate with your influencer and build a relationship, the more your audience will relate to what you are trying to say.

So Bryan Kramer, CEO at PureMatter cautions brands to ‘Keep it Real’ to make the relationship with influencer marketers natural and fun instead of forced and static.

Today’s consumers are savvy. If they feel the influence is being forced, Kramer warns, you will lose the benefit of word-of-mouth marketing credibility.

To this end, Shane Barker, CEO of Shane Barker Consulting cautions against the temptation to ‘Micromanage influencers’. Remember, influencers have built their audiences through their own creativity. So imposing your own approach on them can be a mistake.

Barker explains, “Micromanaging influencers and constantly interfering with their work only spells disaster.” He adds, “Respect the creative process and allow them to create content the way they know best.”

You can look at the infographic below to see what the experts have to say about these dos and don’ts. If you want more insights, you can download The Ultimate Influencer Marketing Playbook of 2018 eBook from Nimble here.